Production Supervisor (1st shift)

About Sara Lee Frozen Bakery

Sara Lee desserts have always stood for incredible flavor and superior value in the frozen food aisle and away from home markets. For the first time in over 60 years, Sara Lee is operating independently as Sara Lee Frozen Bakery, a collection of top brands united in quality and innovation, including Sara Lee®, Chef Pierre®, Bistro Collection®, Superior on Main® and Cyrus O’Leary’s®.

Sara Lee Frozen Bakery is proud to take these iconic brands into a new era and to continue the evolution that transformed one small Chicago bakery into an American institution. Using carefully sourced ingredients and time-honored recipes, the company is committed to making life’s moments a little sweeter, putting its customers first and discovering new ways to make everyone’s favorite foods even better.

Working for Sara Lee

Our vision is to be the world’s most beloved bakery by creating irresistible foods, growing with our customers, and delivering value for all. We believe that each of us has unique points of difference and experience to offer. We will achieve success through collaboration and innovation in an environment where employees feel empowered to execute with speed.

Summary:

The Production Supervisor is a member of the plant leadership team and plays a key role in providing management and leadership to deliver business results and operational improvements. Responsibilities include the direct supervision of production associates and will collaborate with closely with all other departments in the bakery including maintenance, sanitation, and shipping.

Responsibilities:

• The Production Supervisors are responsible for delivering operational targets and leading teams. Additional responsibilities will include:
• Driving safety, quality, continuous improvement, performance management, associate development, team engagement and operating results for their assigned area
• Building an effective team on his/her shift and in his/her area of responsibility and manage the training strategy for both individual associates and the team
• Implement and enforce established policy as well as area and organizational strategies
• Coordinate materials, staffing and resources to support line operation and changeovers
• Collaborate with the rest of the Area Leadership Team (Area Manager or Continuous Improvement Engineer, Continuous Improvement Specialist, Maintenance Coordinator) to create and execute the reliability strategy for area of responsibility
• Coach operators to build their functional and leadership capabilities and to drive accountability in people safety, quality and food safety, autonomous maintenance, and team engagement
• Develop, implement and promote safety programs and safe work practices through involvement in plant safety teams, programs and initiatives
• Ensure the ongoing production of safe and defect free products consistent with the principles of Sara Lee Frozen Bakery
• Manage associate relations issues and guide and direct the hiring, training, retraining, development and motivation of Operations associates
• Utilize the technical resources on shift for the preventive maintenance, repair and troubleshooting of process/packaging equipment problems, with the objective of effectively using these resources to achieve desired performance levels
• Proactively identify risks and opportunities as well as reactively lead on-shift incident resolution when operators require additional support. Prioritize, assign resources against escalated issues, and make decisions to resolve escalated issues
• Participate in the implementation of improvement strategies that will help the line/area perform more effectively
• Responsible for partnering with Talent Acquisition to recruit and select associates for operations roles, and responsible to onboard associates effectively

A trained designee will be appointed by plant management to cover for absences or vacancies.

Requirements:

• • Bachelor’s degree preferred, but not required
  • 3-5 years of supervisory experience in production, preferably in the food processing industry or fast-paced consumer products manufacturing environment
  • Excellent communication skills (verbal and written), including the ability to handle difficult conversations
  • Strong organizational skills required
  • Must be willing to work flexible hours including nights, weekends and holidays
  • Must be willing to write routine reports and correspondence.
  • Knowledge of FDA, USDA, and EPA is preferred
  • Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite. Kronos knowledge is a plus
  • Must be willing to become proficient in NetSuite ERP
  • Ability to troubleshoot required
  • Ability to succeed in an ambiguous environment
  • Ability to lead, motivate, and mentor teams of hourly associates
  • Must have experience delivering critical performance feedback and hold associates accountable to business objectives

Supervisory: Hourly production employees report to this position

Travel: Approximate 0-1% travel required. Must have ability to tour facilities and grounds.

Reports To: Position reports to the Production Manager

Shift Hours: 5:30am-2:30pm (with flexibility)

Sara Lee Frozen Bakery provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.

Interested individuals can apply at